#opportunisticshade

don't call me out like this

a hundred random starters

“Extreme?”

Sheik never considered themself an extreme individual.  No.  They worked based on necessity.  It was not that they enjoyed extremities but rather craved consistent peace that they were willing to go the extremes to achieve it for others.

Hyrule was in ruins and the blood of the fallen hero stained the evil king’s colossal blade.  That had been months ago.  The goddesses had always whispered into Sheik’s ear that it would be the hero who saved their land.  The hero would be the one to slay the beast.

The hero…

     The hero…

          The hero was dead.

And all that remained was the shade, a frustratingly spitting image of him.  Sheik had placed so much trust in Link that they had never thought of this possibility.  A possibility that seemed to diverge from the fates themselves.

The shade was not an ally.  But he was not an enemy either.  It was not him that took their hope away but rather the one who potentially conjured him.  It seemed that neither of them were willing to take a test of faith and turn their blades toward each other, not when the hero’s death only seemed to weigh their own mortality.  There was no reason to fight each other (and perhaps bitter sentimentality was getting the best of Sheik).

They could not watch the hero’s image die once more…

     Even if this was not the hero.

“If I don’t seal Ganon away myself with the sages, then who will?” Sheik question, their voice sharp as they turned toward the shade.  Crimson eyes could only narrow.  “The hero won’t.  And you certainly won’t.”

Oh how pathetic, to be resting in the company of one who tried to kill the hero they had guided.  To trust that Dark would not run them through even as they sat there focused on sharpening their blade on a whetstone, basking in the warmth of a crackling campfire.  Yet it was only the shade that could help them hide, especially with the beast’s eyes out for them now.

“Tomorrow will determine the fate of Hyrule and whether it will fall or recover and that is that.  Nothing will stop that, no matter how extreme or foolish this is.”

Sheik soon glanced toward Dark as their cowl was low to show glimpses of their lips, pulled into a small frown.

“Unless you suddenly felt some sense of love toward Ganon.  Perhaps you suddenly want to protect him?”  Their lips soon upturned into a wry smile, worn and amused.  “Or perhaps myself?”

The blade slid over the whetstone with careful precision once more as they looked away into the dance of the flames.  The dry humour seemed to slip away and they could not bring themself to look upon him again.  A bitter reminder of their failure.